“Asking the Right Person for the Wrong Thing."

In Barbara Taylor Brown's book, Teaching Sermons on Suffering, she reminds us of the Zebedee brothers, who got their mom to ask Jesus to make them his right and left hand men (See Matthew 20 for all the lovely details). Embarrassing, right? When we get our mom to do our work, certainly we do not want to get caught - much less have it recorded in the Bible!

But there it is. Here is how Jesus responds to James and John. "You will indeed drink my cup," he says to them, "but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant." Barbara adds this, "They have, in other words, asked the right person for the wrong thing. They have asked the shepherd for individual retirement accounts. They have asked the footwasher for alligator shoes. They have asked the carpenter's son for box seats in paradise, and none of them is his to give. he can heal lepers and coast out demons; he can give sight to the blind and he can even raise the dead, but he cannot confer status or guarantee income or grant heavenly perks, because he does not have any of them to give." (p. 55, Teaching Sermons on Suffering)

So there it is. Right there in print. Want a demotion? Want to take on the role of servant? Go to Jesus. Want a robust retirement account? Be frugal and save your pennies.

What are you asking Jesus for?